"The largest black metal festival in Finland, Steelfest, will once more be held may 17th-18th 2019 at the Hyvinkään Villatehdas premises, owned by the city of Hyvinkää (a city that is part of the Helsinki metropolitan area). The festival has been arranged since 2012 and attract about 1500 daily visitors. Throughout the years, the festival has booked several NSBM bands and groups with far-right connections, such as Goatmoon, Kroda, Temnozor, Nokturnal Mortum and Peste Noire. This year they have booked Seigneur Voland, Evil, Kroda, Marduk, Mgla, Horna, Antimateria, Morgal and Kalmankantaja.
Steelfest is arranged by Steel LS Oy, a firm run by metalhead Jani Laine. Steelfest have also been arranging a smaller festival called Steelchaos since 2016, held at the Nosturi club in Helsinki. Steelchaos has also been notorious for booking bands with far-right connections; Bizarre Uproar, Marduk, Ride for Revenge and Deströyer 666. Steelfest also co-operate with distros, record labels and shops that represent NSBM and the far-right subcultures of Finland – Horror Shop, Werewolf Records and the KVLT Shop.
By continuously booking NSBM bands, artists and actors that co-operate with Steelfest are supplying fascist subcultures, actively legitimizing their politics and bringing them into the mainstream. It is time to say no to this. Contact Hyvinkää city council and the other business partners of Steelfest and tell them that this normalization of far-right ideology and economical support to open fascists cannot continue.
The business partners of Steelfest are:
- The city of Hyvinkää (the city council decide who can rent and use their facilities)
- Hyvinkään Villatehdas. (the festival area)
- Hotelli Sveitsi and Scandic Hotel Hyvinkää (accomodation for bands and visitors)
- Pohjoispuiston koulu & Tapainlinnan koulu (accomodation for bands and visitors)
- Bar Crafters (a Hyvinkää pub where the preparty is held)
- Kulkukoira (a bus company that arrange the festival transportation)
- ELMU ry. (a Helsinki music association that run Nosturi, the venue where the Steelchaos events are arranged)
Do you have previously unknown or unpublished info about the Finnish nazi music subculture, their secret venues or central figures within the scene? Please contact us on varistoimitus (at) riseup.net"
